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Johnsons Nurseries Supplies Plants For Rockliffe‘s Multimillion-Pound Transformation



One of the UK’s largest plant nurseries, Johnsons Nurseries Ltd, has continued its long-standing relationship with the five-star luxury resort, Rockliffe, supplying more than 17,000 plants and trees for its newly landscaped grounds as part of its multimillion-pound transformation.


Set within 375 acres of historic parkland near Darlington, Rockliffe has undergone an extensive transformation, including the restoration of its Grade II-listed Old Hall, enhanced accommodation, new dining experiences, and the creation of a standalone restaurant pavilion named Atlas.


The ambitious project has seen the resort's gardens and outdoor spaces transformed to complement the renovated and new buildings, creating an attractive and welcoming environment for guests.


The landscape and planting scheme was designed by Colour Landscape Architects, while Johnsons Nurseries supplied an extensive selection of shrubs, trees, instant hedging, ornamental grasses, flowering perennials and topiary, creating year-round interest throughout the newly landscaped grounds.


Among the varieties supplied were mature Scots pines, multi-stem Amelanchier lamarckii and Magnolia trees, alongside instant Carpinus betulus hedging and ornamental Taxus baccata topiary. The planting scheme also features an extensive mix of flowering perennials and ornamental grasses, including Anemone 'Honorine Jobert', Geranium 'Rozanne', Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', Calamagrostis and Deschampsia, providing seasonal colour, texture and movement throughout the gardens.


The landscaping was carried out in-house by Rockliffe’s Estates team, led by Head of Engineering & Estates Phil Mennell.


Despite one of the hottest and driest summers, the team worked tirelessly to establish thousands of plants and trees, extensive hedging and new lawn areas, overcoming challenging conditions and tight deadlines to complete the grounds ahead of the resort's reopening.


Group Managing Director at Johnsons Nurseries, Graham Richardson, said:

"We're incredibly proud to have supplied the plants for Rockliffe’s newly transformed gardens as part of this prestigious development."

"From the restoration of the historic walled garden to this latest transformation, it's rewarding to see how the grounds have evolved. The finished gardens look fantastic, and we're delighted to have played a part in creating outdoor spaces that guests can enjoy for years to come."


Phil Mennell, Head of Engineering & Estates at Rockliffe, added:

"This has been one of the most ambitious landscaping projects we've undertaken at Rockliffe, and I'm incredibly proud of what our Estates team has achieved. Working closely with Johnsons Nurseries has been invaluable, ensuring we had the quality and variety of plants needed to bring the designs to life."

"It's been fantastic to see the gardens transform, and I'm looking forward to watching them establish and mature for our guests to enjoy for many years to come."


Emma Fletcher, Director at Colour Landscape Architects, said:

 “Johnsons have been a great support on the delivery of the new gardens at Rockliffe, assisting us on species choices and availability from early design stages and providing flexibility in deliveries to align with the challenging project programme."

"We are delighted that the completed gardens have been so well received, and a large part of that is the impact that the planting beds and stock have had.”


The completed gardens complement the resort's historic parkland setting, enhancing the guest experience and marking another chapter in Johnsons' long-standing relationship with Rockliffe, which reopened at the beginning of September.


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An iconic East Yorkshire ice cream manufacturer has added a celebration sorbet to its range of real dairy ice creams and has entered a new category with the launch of another.

Market Weighton-based Burgess Ice Cream has developed a new Pink Sparkling Wine flavoured sorbet using a rosé sparkling wine from Little Wold Vineyard in South Cave and has entered the frozen dog treat market with the launch of Burgess Barks.

Burgess's general manager, Richard Wilson outlines the rationale for Burgess Barks: "We have had many requests from customers asking if we could produce a frozen treat for dogs. The regulations for making pet desserts are different to making ice cream, so it has taken a while, but we're delighted with the result and Burgess Barks is going down a storm in the canine community."

Burgess Barks is a vanilla-flavoured frozen dog treat made from sugar-free sorbet and vegetable fibres and is a complementary pet food intended for adult dogs. The packaging is modelled on the Wilson family pet, a tri-coloured collie called Huey.

Of the sorbet launch, Mr Wilson said: "We have had a fantastic reputation for producing delicious real dairy ice cream for almost a century and wanted to complement our range with a special sorbet.

"Given our heritage, we wanted to create something different and indulgent with a link to Yorkshire, so we researched the region's sparkling wines, and Alice's Cuvée proved to have the perfect flavour profile for our celebration sorbet."

Burgess Ice Cream was first produced in a small grocery shop in Beverley in the early 1920s and grew to become the iconic ice cream that generations associated with its super creamy flavour and van on Beverley Westwood. Mr Wilson has also grown with the business, having started with a holiday job aged 16 that led to a 17-year career that ended when the original factory was sold for development. He was delighted to return to Burgess Ice Cream after a 13-year absence to oversee the two-year development of a new state-of-the-art factory in Shiptonthorpe and to plan for the business's centenary celebrations.

"We pride ourselves on producing delicious real dairy ice cream that is matched by a personal, flexible service that includes our own deliveries. It's very rewarding to see our customer numbers growing week by week as they like this level of personal involvement and the range of sizes, from best-selling 125ml pots to 2 litre tubs," Mr Wilson concludes.

Burgess Ice Cream's best-selling vanilla and range of flavoured ice creams are available to buy at over 250 places in Yorkshire, including independent retailers, farm shops, service stations, holiday and adventure parks and theatres. Favoured by discerning local chefs, they are also on the menu at a growing number of pubs and hotels, including Cave Castle, The Mill House Restaurant in Skidby, The Wolds Inn at Huggate and the St Vincent's Arms in Sutton on Derwent.

Burgess Barks is available from pet shops, garden centres, pubs, restaurants and attractions throughout Yorkshire, including the iconic dog-walking area of Beverley Westwood.


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